Star Trek:Odyssey 30:Shadow Plays
by rylansato
Summary: The crash site of the USS Thunderchild is attacked leaving nothing but questions. The crew of the USS Alexandria as well as the former crew of the Thunderchild group together to find out who was behind the attack and why.
1. The Rain

Star Trek: Odyssey: Shadow Plays

Lieutenant Commander Michelle Trinn breathed in the dry air of the unknown planet. The unofficial name for the planet was Thundera since it was the final resting place of the USS Thunderchild. The crew had come up with the name so they didn't have to keep calling it "unknown planet." She glanced upward towards the darkening sky, as if she might see the O'Hara sliding into orbit above the planet to help claim the fallen shattered remains of the Thunderchild. Captain Stork and Commander Purdy were on Earth having meeting with command. She wasn't sure exactly what the meeting was about but it was safe to assume that it was about the loss of the Thunderchild.

The remaining crew as well as engineering crews from the O'Hara were carving the ruins into transporter loads of recyclable scrap. Though the ship was not salvageable, in accordance with the Prime Directive no trace of it could remain on this world. Even though the planet was uninhabited, another space faring species may land here, they must not find any trace of advanced technology which may affect their natural development.

Trinn had expected that the full emotional consequence of the ship's loss would have consumed her by now. This was the second starship she had lost. The first was the Alexandria when they were on their way back to Deep Space Nine from the Chin'toka system after a devastating defeat to the Terran Empire. And now the Thunderchild.

She had gone for a walk to clear her head, which she thought may have helped her emotional turmoil. On the horizon, the last radiant spike of the setting sun flared, then vanished behind a distant peak. A warm breeze stirred the small branches and dried leaves of the lone brush that shared the land. In the fading of the day, this forsaken area of alien rock had become a solemn place. She figured it was time to report in and she tapped her comm badge.

"Trinn to O'Hara."

No response. She tensed up a bit but she then realized that every day wasn't a life or death situation. A few moments passed before her communicator chirped. She smiled as she tapped it to receive the communication.

"Trinn here." She said. But her smile faded when she realized that the static filled transmission did not come from the O'Hara.

"Commander Trinn! This is Sullivan! We're under…" An explosion of static washed out the rest of the communication. Sullivan was part of the engineering team from the O'Hara.

"Sullivan, this is Trinn. Repeat!" Static was the only thing to come through. Trinn didn't understand the cause of it. There was nothing in this planetary system that could cause subspace interference. Finally Sullivan's voice came through again.

"Tell where they're coming from. Two shuttles have been destroyed! We…" Then silence. Not even static. Trinn tried to reestablish a link but it was to no avail. She had to get there in a fast. She tapped her badge again. "Trinn to transporter station one. Beam me to the salvage site."

"Stand by, sir." The voice said. "Energizing."

She felt the cool tingle of the transporter effect as she moved from the open area to her destination. She then rematerialized into hell.

Driving rain sprayed through the ragged hole in the canopy of the portable transporter platform, drenching Trinn as soon as she materialized. The transporter operator was already soaked to the bone. The platform shuddered in the concussion of a nearby flash and bone shaking thud.

"MOVE!" Trinn yelled. The platform shuddered again. Sparks flew from one of the pads.

It was night in this particular region of Thundera, and Trinn had been prepared for partial darkenss. But the emergency lights weren't operating and the bombarded camp had become a collection of looming shadows, hidden by night and rain.

Trinn caught up with Sullivan. She leaned over the walkway railing, staring to the east where a sputtering ball of plasma flared against the uranium skin of the Thunderchild's lifeless hull. The starship's primary hull rose from the raw mud. All around the ship, energy beams danced.

"What's happening, sir?" Sullivan shouted.

"We're under attack." She yelled back.

A wave of heat blasted her from the side as a cargo platform detonated in a fountain of plasma fire. Flaming debris fell all around them. The two of them took off running to get out of range of the fiery downpour.

An enormous thunderclap threw them off balance. Trinn twisted as she fell through the hiss of crisscrossing shrapnel, in time to see the transporter platform engulfed by plasma. As she struck the ground, colums of steam shot up all around her where molten metal hit cold mud.

Trinn was face down in the mud, lungs aching with the need to breathe. Her ears rang with the thunder of whatever had hit the transporter platform.

"Lieutenant Sullivan!" She called as soon as she pushed herself out of the mud.

A thick shaft of green energy stabbed through the night, piercing the Thunderchild's hull. The impact point was close to a wedge already removed by the engineers. Trinn saw the inner decks light up from the discharge of whatever type of weapon that was being used. The beam sliced through the Thunderchild. A chain reaction of explosions started deep within the hull of the ship.

"Commander."

Trinn turned to see Sullivan and the transporter operator, Ensign Alverez running toward her. They both were layered in mud.

"Who's doing this?" Alverez asked.

Trinn shrugged. She had no idea or even a suspicion.

"Let's try and get to a shuttle." Trinn said. The three of them headed to the east of the camp toward the shuttle pads.

Bodies lay scattered around the debris of the burning communications center. More explosions shook the hull. Trinn's jaw tightened as she heard screams blended with the roar of the unseen ship.

There was no way to know where the screams came from. And there was no time to search for them. As they ran through the debris, Trinn saw two Type 11 shuttles lay in pieces. A third was intact. They fought through the mud as they got closer to the shuttle. There were a few other officers standing nearby. They were from the O'Hara's crew.

"Who are they?" Trinn asked as she leaned gratefully against the shuttle's hull, leaving a muddy handprint that was later washed away by the pouring rain.

"I don't know, sir." One of them said. "They took out the O'Hara."

Trinn felt acid course through her stomach, The only other Starfleet vessels in the system were transport freighters and engineering support ships. Without the O'Hara, the survivors of the salvage camp were at the mercy of the attackers.

"What could they be after?" Sullivan asked.

They all glanced over to the looming mass of the Thunderchild's saucer section. The space between them and the downed ship was just a wasteland of destruction. The ship itself still crackled with energy discharges, long bolts of plasma sparking outward.

"I don't know." Trinn said. "There' snothing important left in her. All the tactical computers were pulled out the first day. Phasers, shields, torpedoes, everything classified has been taken out." The ground shook as a blinding flash of light exploded from the ship's interior with a thundering echo. "Does this shuttle still have the demo charges?"

"You can't be serious, sir." Sullivan said. "The second you turn on the shuttle's targeting system, they will incinerate us."

Trinn smiled grimly. "Probably."

Sullivan handed Trinn her tricorder. "We can't do much more, sir. If you want to launch those torpedoes, we're going to have to do it from inside the shuttle."

Trinn nodded. The torpedoes could be launched only by the controls on the shuttle's flight deck. But the moment they were brought online, the enemy would detect them and fire at them.

"Get your people out of here." Trinn said to the O'Hara crewmen.

Trinn felt Sullivan's hand on her arm. "Sir, you can't do this alone."

Trinn watched as the O'Hara crewmen fled into the rain. She then took the tricorder and entered a command into the small device. She then launched the tricorder into the rain filled darkness, quickly disappearing from sight.

"In a few moments, that tricorder is going to put out a signal that makes it look like a phaser bank is coming online."

"Nice." Sullivan said smiling.

Trinn then jerked her head to the side. "Follow them into the forest and take cover." Trinn then stepped into the shuttle. She activated the shuttle's torpedo controls. She set the torpedoes to target any moving object a hundred meters in altitude or above. As soon as the panel confirmed her input, she hurried back to the shuttle's doorway.

As soon as she appeared in the doorway, a green energy beam, hit the area where she had thrown the tricorder. She heard a small explosion from the beam hitting the tricorder and was relieved that the distraction had worked. However, the beam sliced through the ground towards them like a shark's fin in the water, closing in on another target. The shuttle.

Trinn gripped both sides of the bulkhead to push herself forward and away from the shuttle. Her boots slipped.

She fell, chest slamming into the deck, she lost her breath, looked up to see the green beam making its way towards her. Her insides clenched as she saw her inevitable death only moments away.

A hand grabbed her wrist.

"Commander." The voice said.

Sullivan didn't leave her. Trinn's eyes had met Sullivan's as she hauled her out of the shuttle with desperate strength. The beam struck the shuttle a moment later. Trinn heard Sullivan cry out, the hiss of vaporized flesh, the sound of torpedoes launching and the shuttle being sliced in two. The taste of mud filled her mouth once again.

A moment later, there was another explosion in the air as the torpedoes found their target. Trinn picked herself up into a sitting position with a lot of pain. It pained her to breathe as she choked on mud and rain.

She then saw Sullivan's arm sticking out of the mud. Full of relief, she pulled and to her horror she dropped the hand as she realized that it was only a hand and part of the forearm.

She sat alone in the night as the rain seemed to lighten up a bit. The crewmen from the O'Hara appeared, one had a medkit. The white haired Andorian engineer named Lex pulled Trinn to her feet.

"Why?" He asked.

"I don't know." Trinn said. "There was nothing here to steal. No secrets left, nothing." She stopped talking as she felt the cool hiss of the hypospray against her neck. "However, I doubt the torpedoes were the cause of the end of the attack."

"Then why did they stop?" Lex asked.

"The same reason any successful attacks stop. They completed their mission." Trinn said.

"What was their mission?" Lex asked with anger beginning to seethe from his voice. "What could there be on this chunk of rock worth dying for?"

Trinn had no answer for the question. However, she knew that someone had the answer and she was going to find out.


	2. Frankenstein

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 59115.4: The Alexandria has received a distress call from the planet known to many as Thundera from Lieutenant Commander Michelle Trinn. She reported the camp site of the Thunderchild's final resting place was attacked by an unknown assailant. The Alexandria arrived in orbit to find the debris of the U.S.S. O'Hara with the only survivors on the planet surface._

Lieutenant Commander Trinn sat in the conference room with the senior staff of the Alexandria. It was bittersweet to be back on the Alexandria and to be sitting around the conference table with her old comrades. She had wished it was for different reasons. When she was first beamed aboard, she and the other survivors were taken to sickbay where Doctor Plumley and her staff looked them over and took care of the injuries. She was still unsure of what really happened and why the O'Hara, a Saber class starship, was destroyed and left to float lifelessly in orbit around Thundera. Sure, the Saber class was not a battle ship in comparison to a Sovereign class or a Galaxy class, it was more of a science ship but it could easily hold its own. The first people that entered Trinn's mind as who could be responsible was the Borg.

Allensworth sat in his usual chair, facing the rest of his senior staff plus one. His attention was focused on Trinn. "So, you have no idea who attacked you?" He asked.

Trinn shook her head. "No, sir."

"Analyzing the debris of the O'Hara, the energy residue left over on the debris is consistent with Romulan disruptors." Ra'chel said.

"Why would the Romulans attack a Federation starship and the remains of one?" Hoshi asked.

"Maybe they finally got tired of the standing around and opened fire on the O'Hara. Turning this cold war into a hot one." McKenzie said.

"While it's possible, it is unlikely that they'd just openly attack a Federation starship." Johnson said.

"It hasn't stopped them before." Dustin said. "I've had plenty of run-ins with the Romulans while serving aboard the Enterprise and Commander Tomalak was willing to start a war by destroying the Enterprise." Dustin shifted in his chair and leaned on his chair's left arm rest. "And with the Gorn, Tholians and Breen behind them, I'm sure they wouldn't care firing the first shot like they did with the Earth and Romulan War back in twenty-one fifty-six."

Johnson looked over to Hoshi. "You took part in that war, didn't you, Lieutenant Commander?"

Hoshi shook her head. "Wrong Hoshi, Commander. That was the Hoshi of this timeline.

"Even so, why would they fire on the surface?" Trinn asked getting back to the topic.

For that question, no one had an answer. Tensions between the Federation and the Alliance were very high. "

The attack on the O'Hara and the remains of the Thunderchild could be a retaliation for the sabotage mission by the Federation. It could be possible that an attack by the Alliance could have been carried out. However, there was no real proof other than the energy signature by the weapon residue left over." Johnson said.

Suddenly, the intercom kicked on. It was Lieutenant Dowey's voice. "Captain, we're picking up some interesting readings off the port bow."

"What kind of readings?" Allensworth asked.

"I'm not sure but they're consistent with a Romulan cloaking device." Dowey said.

At that, the group got up from their table and headed to the bridge. They all went to their stations as Trinn stood back near the opening between Allensworth and Merriell's chairs. Lieutenant Commander Johnson sat down at Ops, relieving her replacement. Her eyes scanned her control board as she began entering commands. "Sir, the anomaly seems to be moving away from us."

"It has to be the ship that attacked us on the planet." Trinn said.

"It would appear to be the culprit." Allensworth said.

"It's gone, sir." Johnson said.

"Gone?" Merriell asked.

"Yes, sir. It's just gone."

"Did they go to warp?" Hoshi asked.

Johnson shook her head. "If they had, they would've left a trail caused by the artificial quantum singularity which is what powers Romulan warp drives. This, however, did not."

Allensworth was about to say something when he was practically knocked out of his chair when the ship shook. "SHIELDS!"

"REPORT!" Merriell said.

"Warp drive has been knocked out." Zofchak said. "From the looks of things, they won't be back online for at least six hours." The chief engineer pressed a few buttons on his console. "All available power's been rerouted to the shields."

"Put the ship on screen." Allensworth said. The screen switched on to show the a ship that was not expected to be seen. A Starfleet saucer section that looked to be from a ship from the Galaxy family. The saucer was connected to the hull of a Cardassian Galor class ship, with a Borg cube right in the center of the ship, just behind the Starfleet saucer.

"What the hell is that?" Merriell said standing up

"Lock weapons and fire." Allensworth ordered.

The Alexandria's phaser array glowed and discharged a phaser beam that impacted the mystery ship's shields. The Frankenstein ship fired its Romulan style weapons at the Sovereign class ship, causing more damage.

"Sir," Johnson said. "The weapon signature matches those that attacked O'Hara and the crew on the surface."

"Bring us about." Allensworth said. "And fire." The Alexandria swung around, firing more of its weapons, striking the other ship's shields where the Federation saucer section was located. The other ship stopped its barrage.

Allensworth raised his hand to signal McKenzie to hold her fire. He then tilted his head towards Hoshi. "Open a hailing frequency."

"Open, sir." She replied.

"Unknown vessel, this is Captain Jermaine Allensworth of the Federation starship Alexandria. You have fired on this ship, fired on Starfleet officers on the planet's surface and destroyed another Federation starship. This is considered an act of war. Lower your defensives."

"Sir, their engines are powering up." Johnson said.

Without much warning, the ship leapt into warp.

A short while later, the senior officers as well as Lieutenant Commander Trinn sat around the conference table discussing their current situation.

"That last attack took out our impulse engines. Shields are holding at twenty-seven percent, but if we push it any further, we'll start losing other systems." Dustin said.

Johnson spoke up. "We have reconfigured long range sensors to detect its warp signature. There is no sign of the alien ship or any indication of it returning."

"We have weapons." McKenzie said.

"That ship has the disruptors of a Romulan ship, the warp core and part of its hull of a Cardassian Galor class ship, a Starfleet style saucer section which all of it protected by the shield structure of a Borg cube." Dustin said.

"Their shield frequencies modulate so often, it's hard for our sensors to get an accurate lock." Alex said. "Who knows what they could have."

"While it is possible for the Alliance to attack us," Nycz said. "I don't think they're behind this attack."

Everyone shot looks towards the ship's counselor. The current rivalry to the Federation besides the Borg was the Alliance and to suggest that someone else could behind this did not leave the senior officers with good feelings or thoughts.

"Could you explain that a bit more, Counselor?" Plumley asked.

"What I mean is that, look at all the components that comprise the ship. A Borg cube, a Starfleet saucer section, a Cardassian hull and warp core, Romulan disruptors and who knows what other parts from other factions there are. So far from what we've seen the only Alliance issue part is the Romulan disruptors.

"I want you all to go through the sensor logs and see if we can find something we can use." Allensworth said. "Dustin, I want you to try and get the engines back up and running. Jules, see what you can do to upgrade the weapons so we can get through those shields. As it stands right now, the Alexandria is a sitting duck." He stood up, which gave everyone else the prompt to stand as well. "You all have your assignments. Dismissed."


	3. No Explanation

The officers executed their duties aboard the bridge. Commander Merriell walked from station to station to check on the status of each department. His current stop was where Zofchak and Kazarick were standing.

"Were you able to do anything with the high yield gravaton beam?" Merriell asked.

Dustin shook his head. "I've gone over it four times, Commander. The energy output would not be strong enough."

Alex began to move away. "Keep at it and see if you can come up with something." He moved over towards McKenzie, Johnson and Trinn at the tactical station and the closest science station. "Anything?"

Johnson slightly tilted her towards Merriell but didn't take her eyes from the screen. "I've been studying the energy output from the alien ship and for a split second, their shields dropped just as one of their weapons impacted our shields. This was the same time Commander Zofchak remodulated the frequency of the shields. I'm not sure what this means, but I do think it is more than coincidence."

"You're not saying that Dustin had anything to do with that?"

"No, nothing like that. Whomever we're dealing with, they knew our shields would remodulate and they take advantage of it. What that advantage could have been, I'm not sure."

In Engineering, Lieutenant Gixx kept Main Engineering in order while Commander Zofchak was away. He made sure the duty roster was up to date and that any assignments tasked for the current duty rotation were completed before the shift change. He walked into the chief engineer's office but stopped at the threshold as he realized the room was not empty.

"Lieutenant Richards?" he said to the young human male behind the desk and working intently at the computer terminal. "What are you doing here?"

Richards had flinched visibly at the sudden opening of the door. It was obvious that he was as surprised by Gixx's arrival as the Andorian was to see him in the first place.

"I'm preparing the deuterium consumption report."

Gixx shook his head. "Commander Zofchak told me to do that."

"I see," the other engineer replied. There was a slight pause where he said nothing else, instead tapping a command string into the computer terminal before rising from his seat. "I guess we have some kind of misunderstanding."

His eyes narrowing in suspicion, Gixx stepped farther into the office, the door closing behind him. "I should say so. The assignments are clearly indicated on the duty roster. I was given the task of preparing the deuterium report, and you were supposed to be on the detail replacing that port nacelle power coupling. If there has been a change in the assignments for today, I have not been informed." He was not surprised when Richards moved to block him from coming around the desk. Obviously he did not want him to see whatever was displayed on the computer terminal.

Surprise did come when the human calmly reached out and pulled Gixx's combadge from his chest.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked. He instinctively reached to grab the communicator back, noticing for the first time that the other engineer was wearing a phaser. There was no time to ask why before Richards drew the weapon and fired.

The orange beam enveloped the Andorian and his body disappeared. Using a phaser on such a powerful setting would normally have registered with the ship's internal security sensors. Malshu remembered this fact only the moment after deciding the Andorian would have to be killed in order to preserve the security of the mission. Thankfully, it had taken little effort to encode an override to the security grid capable of blinding the sensors to his weapon's discharge. He wondered if he would have time before leaving the ship to learn why these people on storing such weapons anywhere but a designated armory.

One positive aspect of killing the Andorian was that Malshu would now be able to assume the form of the dead engineer. That at least was a less risky proposition than continuing on with his impersonation of the human. Moving so that he was not visible through the window, Malshu reached for his left wrist and tapped it. The human male's pinkish skin and dark material of his uniform vanished, replaced by the metallic exoskeleton of his mimicking shroud.

The body enveloping garment was a most favored tool of those in his profession, having proven quite useful in his past assignments. Even in its natural state, the shroud provided effective camouflage for nighttime operations, but its true value lay in its array of built in sensors and holographic emitters. When activated and used properly, they provided the shroud with the means to replicate nearly any humanoid form.

A control panel for the shroud was on his left arm. Malshu tapped a key and compact digital text began to scroll on the pad's mini display screen. He entered more commands into the panel and the emitters activated. In response to his commands, the Starfleet uniform reappeared. This time he sported white hair and blue skin along with antennae extending out from the top of his head. He then placed the stolen communicator on the left side of his chest. As far as the Alexandria's computer and internal sensors were concerned, the presence of the communicator was the same as tracking Lieutenant Gixx.


	4. Plumley and Perim

His work completed, Malshu reminded himself that in order to keep his disguise, it would be necessary for him to risk doing what he had sought to avoid: interacting with the ship's crew. It was part of the mission Malshu hated. He wasn't a big fan of the humans, that happened to make up the majority of the Alexandria's crew.

He glanced at his reflection on the display screen and his outward appearance of Lieutenant Gixx. He certainly had not meant to insinuate himself among the crew using such a conspicuous persona. His goal would have been better served had he remained in the role of a lesser officer, one with computer access but few responsibilities. His new position of leadership was an unanticipated result of being interrupted by the damned Andorian.

However, this new disguise brought a new opportunity, something he slowly realized as he strode past other Starfleet engineers busying themselves with their various tasks. As Malshu made his rounds, multiple officers approached him to report their progress toward their designated objectives. They also entered their personal computer access codes in front of him, not realizing that the open tricorder in his hand was programmed to capture those code sequences so he might make use of them later.

Computer stations with much useful information were all around him. Stations that reported every major shipboard system. The engines, weapons, defensive systems, and environmental controls were all observed here. Malshu even took note of the current status of the ship's deflector shield energy modulation. An enemy would love to have their hands on such a piece of information during an attack.

Malshu approached one of the consoles encircling the room's most dominate feature, the warp core. It towered overhead and extending twelve decks through the middle of the ship's secondary hull. It rumbled and pulsated as it controlled the reaction of matter and antimatter to generate the massive energy required to propel the ship at faster than light speeds.

"Lieutenant?"

Malshu turned around to see a blue skinned, bald, female in a Starfleet uniform facing him. She was a Bolian.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, Lieutenant. I just gazed off for a moment. I should probably get back to work."

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, Commander Zofchak gets cranky when reports are late.

Moving away from the Bolian, Malshu decided he had done enough interacting as he headed back to the relatively safe office. Once there, he could begin testing a few of his newly acquired access codes to see if they may yield access to other area's of the Alexandria's computer.

Finally, Sickbay was at peace. Amanda Plumley amended silently as a soft alert tone from a nearby diagnostic bed wailed for attention. She reached over and silenced the alarm. A quick check with her tricorder's medical scanner confirmed the bed's diagnostic readings that its patient, a Bajoran male from the Thunderchild, was starting to become feverish.

Retrieving a hypospray from the nearest counter, Plumley set it to administer a mild antibiotic. In moments, the bed's diagnostic scanner recorded the introduction of the drug into the patient's bloodstream and its immediate effects.

"At least this time your fever's a normal reaction." she said.

While nearly all of the Thunderchild survivors requiring medical treatment were recovering without incident, a handful of patients were still in critical care, recuperating from their more serious wounds. Elsewhere in the large room, dozens of convalescing Thunderchild crewmembers occupied patient beds and cots, while others were in the makeshift sickbay in the cargo bay.

A lot had congregated in Ten Forward. Counselor Nycz and a few of the medical staff were trained to act as crisis counselors, doing what they could to help those beginning to show signs of post traumatic stress. Plumley watched as Nycz approached two patients, one of whom appeared to have been crying, and placed a comforting hand on the distraught male's shoulder. It was a simple gesture, one the doctor hoped would provide a small measure of comfort.

"Doctor Plumley?"

The voice calling her name from behind her startled her, and she turned to see Kell Perim favoring her right leg and limping her way into the cargo bay. "Kell? What happened?"

Perim offered a weak smile as she hobbled toward one of the empty diagnostic beds. "I'm sorry. I know you're busy and don't have time for this sort of nonsense."

"You caught me at the right time. Besides, I warned you about the discomfort." Plumley said, moving to help the lieutenant to lie down on the bed.

"I haven't had much time these days for the exercises you showed me." Kell said, wincing as she straightened her leg and massaged the side of her knee. "Lieutenant Commander Johnson and I appear to be the only officers to take the Ops station. We pull long hours. My leg is stiff no matter what I do."

"You have to take time for yourself if you want to keep the knee, Kell." Plumley said shaking her head. She picked up a tricorder and activated its medical scanner, waving it in a circular motion over the lieutenant's leg. "We really should replace it altogether, but I'm not going to be able to do it until things settle down around here."

"Maybe I should have just listened to you in the first place."

They had discussed the replacement procedure a few weeks earlier. Perim had been reluctant, likening the unwanted surgical procedure in some ways to her decision to decline accepting a Trill symbiont into her body. That she had opted against what many of her people regarded as a singular honor had placed her at odds with her friends and family. That was one thing she missed about having Lieutenant Commander Michelle Trinn around, back then it was Lieutenant Trinn. She missed the conversations about being joined and getting that insight.

For reasons she had only partially shared with Plumley, Kell had equated the notion of becoming a symbiont's host and forsaking a life of free will to being fitted with an artificial joint instead of working to restore her body to full and natural health. To recant that position now and be willing to accept the idea of a replacement knee meant either that she had reconciled some of the fears she harbored or that the pain in her knee was excruciating enough to force her into a direction she did not necessarily want to go.

"Don't worry." Plumley said. "No scolding from me. Let's see if another round of regeneration therapy can stop as a substitute for a day or two."

Kell chuckled. "At this point, I'd consider amputation as a substitution."

If the mood on the bridge had been somber, Allensworth decided, it was now positively dire in the observation lounge, and with good reason, so far as he was concerned.

"Sensors detected several subspace communications received by the vessel." Johnson said. "But I am unable to determine a point of origin."

"I don't understand." Merriell said, his expression glum as he sat slump shouldered with both hands faced palms down on the polished surface of the conference table. "It doesn't make any sense as to why the salvage site was attacked and then us. Especially since it appears that this is not the Alliance's doing."

"This system is uninhabited and of little strategic value." Johnson said. "The Thunderchild was already stripped of its components and was no more than a lifeless shell. I've begun a full analysis of the…"

"Captain Allensworth." McKenzie said over the comm.

"Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"Sir, we have come across bodies of two ensigns in cargo bay four. They were stashed away in a compartment. Logs report that the ensigns' codes were used to access the computer within the last hour. Sickbay reports these two ensigns have been dead for at least nine hours."

The officers stood up from the conference table. "Intruder alert."


	5. Engineering

Zofchak sighed heavily. He inserted a few commands into the workstation, modifying the ship's internal sensors. "Without knowing what species we're dealing with, and considering the variety of races that make up the crew, figuring out how to isolate someone isn't much to go on. Even if we screened out biosigns for the different species represented by the crew, that's still not a guarantee that we'd pick up anything."

"What if we went with the idea that it's a spy using some kind of hologram technology to alter their appearance." Merriell said. "We could reprogram the sensors to register anyone who looked to be carrying a portable power source."

Dustin shook his head. "The ship's sensors are already configured to detect and report the use of any unauthorized power sources anywhere on board. If such a source is in operation, it seems reasonable to assume that it is being concealed in some fashion."

"You're probably right." Merriell said. "At least if they were Founders, we'd have a few tricks up our sleeves."

During the Dominion War, methods had been developed to identify shapeshifters who had infiltrated Starfleet and the Federation as well as the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Union, in some cases adopting the personas of individuals possessing much influence and authority within each society. The tactics had been crude, consisting of blood tests of suspected impostors and, in more extreme situations, phaser sweeps of rooms where changelings were believed to be hiding while assuming the forms of other people or even inanimate objects.

Allowing his gaze to wander about the room, Zofchak caught sight of the two security guards. Ensign Allen and Lieutenant Stallworth, both human males, were each armed with a phaser rifle and positioned just inside the main entrance to the engineering section. Teams like this one had been deployed throughout the ship in accordance with Captain Allensworth's order, a course of action the chief engineer could not remember being put into play since his days on the Enterprise during the Dominion War.

In engineering, Zofchak had taken additional proactive steps, most notably in erecting the forcefield intended to protect the warp core. Even now he could hear the slight buzz of the active shield, just barely audible over the powerful thrum of the core itself. If indeed a saboteur was aboard the Alexandria, the possibility of that individual disabling the ship's main propulsion system or even using it as a weapon to destroy the ship altogether was a very real concern.

Looking once more at the guard, he shook his head in resignation. It had always unsettled him when circumstances required the employment of such martial methods aboard what was supposed to be a ship of peaceful exploration.

_How long has it been since we were explorers? _He thought to himself.

Hoshi came over to her husband. "How are you progressing down here?"

Dustin shrugged. "I don't think we're any closer to figuring out a way of detecting these impostors."

His gaze turned to the screen and his expression turned to one of concern. He tapped his comm. badge.

"Take a look at this." Zofchak said. "The autonomous maintenance subprocessors show more traffic than the system master log can account for." Automated and operating outside the boundaries of the ship's vast computer network, the maintenance subroutines tracked the wear on the system's physical components, notifying operations personnel when schedule cleaning of data storage facilities and other pieces of equipment was required based on an individual unit's level of usage.

If the report Zofchak was reading was correct, several of the core's data storage units were in need of routine maintenance far ahead of projected schedules, based on a high level of activity that had not been recorded by the system's access logs.

"How is that possible?" Merriell asked.

"Lieutenant Kazarick has been going over the logs for the past several hours." Zofchak said. "But she reports that she is unable to account for the disparity. She thinks a level one diagnostic should be scheduled for the entire computer system as soon as possible."

Zofchak entered a few commands into his padd. "Hey Hoshi, can you go over and give this to Hilary?"

She nodded and took the padd from his hand and walked away. As she was walking, Lieutenant Gixx turned a corner and almost ran into Hoshi.

"Sorry, Lieutenant." She said.

"Don't worry about it." Gixx said as he went over to sit down at a nearby console. Hoshi glanced at him as she handed the padd to Kazarick. She then returned to the others.

"I don't think Lieutenant Gixx is himself."

"What do you mean?" Merriell asked.

"His intonation and inflections are off. I don't think that's the real Lieutenant Gixx."

"Are you sure?" Merriell asked. "Do you think he's an impostor?"

"It's a possibility but we have to take him into custody to be sure." Hoshi said.

"Well, we can see about that." Zofchak said, keeping his attention on the Andorian. The chief engineer was uncomfortable with the idea of Gixx working so close to the warp core. If Hoshi was right about him, what had the lieutenant done as part of potential contingency plans in the event he was discovered?

Zofchak's eyes flickered to the main entrance and the two security guards stationed there. They were the best option for attempting to apprehend Gixx, he decided. Crossing the floor of the engineering section, he pretended to study the padd in his hand in the event Gixx turned to look in his direction. When he drew within earshot of the security officers, he made a point not to look up from the padd as he spoke.

"Stallworth, I need you to take Lieutenant Gixx into custody and remove him from engineering as quietly as possible."

The young Human male looked at him with a quizzical look. "Sir?"

"Commander Sato thinks he may be an impostor." Zofchak said, knowing that Lieutenant McKenzie had briefed all of her people on the current situation.

Stallworth nodded in understanding. "Aye, sir. We'll take him to the brig." He said indicating for Allen to follow him. They began moving towards Gixx.

"Lieutenant Gixx, can you come with us, please?"

"I do not understand." He said.

"Now I'm certain of it." Hoshi said quietly to Zofchak and Merriell.

The Andorian locked eyes with Zofchak, the chief engineer watched as the Andorian's own expression seemed to grow flat and cold and in that instant Zofchak knew he had been made.

Before he could shout a warning, say or do anything, the situation dissolved into chaos. Gixx's right forearm was a blur as it lashed out and caught Allen full in the face, snapping his head back and knocking him off his feet. His phaser rifle dropped from his hands as he fell, with Gixx moving even before his body hit the deck. Gixx's left leg came up and his foot struck Stallworth in the chest, sending him backwards until he struck another workstation mounted to a nearby bulkhead.

Gixx bent to snatch the hand phaser from Allen's waist holster of the unmoving ensign. Zofchak felt his blood chil as the Andorian glared at him, but Gixx did or said nothing. By now, Merriell, Zofchak and Sato had all drawn their phasers and had them pointed at Gixx.

"Computer, secure main engineering." Zofchak shouted.

There was no response from the computer as Gixx began moving toward the doors leading from engineering. Despite Zofchak's order, the chief engineer saw the doors open at Gixx's approach. His lockout command had not been accepted by the computer.

"Zofchak to security! Intruder alert in main engineering!" He yelled tapping his combadge.

"McKenzie here, teams on their way, Sir. I'm activating intruder protocols now."

Stallworth and Allen were able to regain their feet and fired their phasers at Gixx. Orange energy hit the Andorian high in the chest and neck. Zofchak saw the lieutenant's form shift and shimmer at the point of impact, with some sort of metallic black garment that was only visible for an instant when the phaser beam struck him. Gixx staggered but didn't fall as he should have.

"What the hell?" Merriell exclaimed. Gixx turned toward the doorway, his free hand reaching out to tap a control pad positioned next to the entrance. Then he stepped through, pulling his communicator badge from his uniform and tossing it back into the engineering room just as the doors closed.

"Engineering sealed." The computer reported.

"Zofchak to McKenzie, Gixx is an impostor and he's just escaped engineering. He's armed."

"He has also modified several of the ship's security protocols." Merriell said from behind him. Zofchak rushed to the nearest workstation, entering multiple commands. "Internal sensors are offline, as are security containment fields all over the ship."

"He's going to be difficult to track now." Merriell said. "Whoever he is, he's a smart bastard."


	6. The Chase

Klaxons wailed in the corridors and alarm indicators positioned at regular intervals along the bulkheads flared crimson red. Malshu knew that the entire ship would be alerted to the presence of an intruder by now.

The corridor leading from engineering offered several directions in which he could run. He knew he could not stay in this part of the ship. Security forces would already be converging here, trying to cut off all avenues of escape. He had bought himself a few minutes, at most, with his security lockouts of internal sensors so they could not track him.

Reaching an access panel leading to one of the numerous maintenance conduits crisscrossing the bowels of the ship, Malshu opened it and crawled inside. Even as he pulled the hatch closed behind him he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps. Security personnel were finally arriving.

He knew that some of them would be sent to try and gain access to engineering, perhaps even using their weapons to cut through the doors he had sealed as part of his security overrides. The others, along with many more scatter throughout the vessel, would be fanning out in search of him. His mimicking device would protect him from the ship's passive sensors and their hand held units, until they found a way to penetrate the device. How long would it take Zofchak and Merriell? They were both gifted individuals and now that they had a purpose to focus on, there would be no stopping them until they achieved success. Malshu had to find a way to escape the ship before that happened, but that would also prove a daunting task. Transporters, shuttlebays and escape pods would almost certainly be secured by now. He might be able to reroute security protocols so as to gain access to one of the pods, but that would take time he was sure he did not have.

That left one option; acquiring an environmental suit and leaving through one of the ship's several docking ports. He needed to keep moving if he wanted to succeed with that plan. As he turned at the first intersection he came to, he nearly barreled into two Alexandria security officers. Both men, one human and the other Caitian, were carrying phaser rifles.

"It's him," the human said, raising his phaser rifle. "The impostor."

Malshu was faster, bringing his own weapon up and firing at the human. Orange energy washed over the man's body even as the Caitian ducked to his left, twisting his phaser rifle around and trying to aim it at Malshu, who fired again. In seconds, both security officers lay unconscious on the deck.

Now hearing running footsteps approaching, Malshu pushed the unconscious Caitian's body into the maintenance conduit. He pressed a few buttons on his suit's pad and took the form of the Caitian. As he closed the access hatch, he knew that it was possible that someone would find the stunned guard, but that was a chance he was willing to take.

There was just enough time to return to the stunned human, grab the Caitian's fallen phaser rifle, and kneel down next ot the other man before a human woman and a Vulcan woman rounded a corner in the passageway. Their own weapons were up and pointed in front of them, searching for threats.

"What happened?" asked the woman, whom Malshu recognized as the Alexandria's security chief, Lieutenant Julia McKenzie.

"It was him," Malshu said. "We caught him crawling out of a maintenance hatch. He stunned my partner and then ran off that way." Playing the role as best he could, he pointed down the corridor in the direction opposite of the airlock that was his destination. "I fired at him, but I missed and he made it around the corner."

Kneeling next to the unconscious human, McKenzie's companion that Malshu recognized as Lieutenant Commander Ra'chel Johnson, the ship's Operations officer, looked up at Lieutenant McKenzie. "Emerson has been stunned, Lieutenant but his injuries are not severe." Tapping her combadge, she said, "Johnson to sickbay, we have injured on deck fifteen, section nine. Send a medical team along with a security escort."

"Acknowledged, on our way," replied a voice Malshu thought to be Doctor Plumley.

McKenzie appeared to be satisfied with that, but Malshu watched her jaw tighten in frustration. "This guy is making a mockery of my security teams," she said. "I want his head on a stake," She stood up and checked the power setting on her weapon. "You're with us, Ensign. Let's go."

Malshu's thoughts edged him to shoot them but he ultimately figured that tagging long with Lieutenant McKenzie would provide ideal camouflage, at least until such time as his situation presented a better opportunity for escape.

"Aye, sir," he said as he fell in behind her. "Let's go get him."

Zofchak, Merriell, Sato and the rest of people trapped in engineering spoke to the bridge through a monitor display.

"Whatever species he is," Zofchak said. "He is sporting some sort of suit that allows him to change his appearance."

"Wouldn't the sensors pick up on unauthorized personnel on the ship?" Nycz asked.

"Not if they were using real combadges," Zofchak said. "Which would mean that the real Gixx is missing and the intruder is using his combadge."

"It is similar to the isolation suits we use when we do duck blind missions on prewarp cultures," Merriell said. "However, their suits uses holography and sensor dampening fields to conceal its presence, rather than the cloaking technology used in our suits."

"Now that you know what you are looking for," Allensworth said, "can you track his movements?"

"Not yet, sir," Zofchak said. "We're still working to get internal sensors back online. He managed to plant several lockouts in the main computer system, and did a great job of hiding them." They had not even been able to circumvent the lock the intruder had placed on the doors. Manual override had been useless, as well as forcing security personnel to cut through the doors with their phaser rifles.

"Computer," Merriell said, "direct all combadge signals transmitting on security frequency delta seven to this station." Immediately, a schematic of the Alexandria appeared on one of the workstation monitors, two images showing both overhead and side views of the ship. Zofchak saw dozens of yellow indicators begin to overlay the image; each point represented a member of McKenzie's security team.

"I'm able to track individual biosignatures," Merriell said.

"Well that narrows it down to only a little over a thousand possibilities," Zofchak said. Captain Allensworth had made matters somewhat easier by restricting personnel to their duty stations or their quarters for the duration of the heightened security measures that had been in effect for most of the day. That still left a lot of people, most of them part of the security detail, moving about the ship.

Zofchak stood up. "Computer, show me any biosigns within thirty meters of any escape pod, the captain's yacht or shuttlebays. Eliminate any biosign for crew members not confined to quarters or anyone not moving toward any of those locations."

Another set of points illuminated on the technical displays of the Alexandria, adding to those representing the security force. Adhering to Captain Allensworth's standing order that no one travel alone, the indicators were arranged in small groups as they moved about the ship. All of them, except one.

Walking with Lieutenant McKenzie and her companion, Malshu decided that the time to make his escape was almost at hand. It was a plan that was bold in its simplicity. McKenzie was leading them toward the aft shuttlebay, having elected to search this and other comparably sensitive areas of the ship herself. Malshu reasoned that once there and with their attention focused on conducting their sweep, the security chief and the Vulcan would present him with a prime opportunity to immobilize them. That done, he would carry out his plan of acquiring an environmental suit and departing the ship. He conceded that it was a risky course of action, but he also knew that his time to effect an escape was rapidly running out. If he was lucky, he could get to a shuttlecraft.

"Zofchak to Lieutenant McKenzie."

McKenzie tapped her combadge. "Go ahead, Commander."

"We're now able to track combadge signals for everyone on the ship. We've also found one of your people, unconscious and stuffed into a Jefferies tube on deck fifteen. It's Ensign Penmai."

Malshu realized he had forgotten to take the Caitian's combadge after subduing him and the ship's computer had used it to locate the unconscious officer he had replaced. There was no time to mentally debate his decision not to kill Caitian before, to their credit, McKenzie and Johnson reacted.

Malshu felt a hand on his shoulder, Johnson's, and knew the Vulcan was attempting to immobilize him with the curious unarmed defensive tactic her race had long ago perfected. Pivoting away from Johnson caused her hand to slide away and Malshu used the opportunity to strike out at McKenzie just as the security chief was bringing her phaser rifle up and around. The kick spoiled her aim. Malshu's strength knocked the weapon out of her hand and forced her back. He sensed movement behind him and ducked to his left just as the phaser strike caught him in the back. The familiar jolt washed over him as the mimicking shroud dispersed the weapon's energy across the surface of the suit. At such close range the attack was nearly overwhelming, even though the shroud could withstand such assaults for a short time. The effects on the wearer were somewhat more severe, and Malshu he had to end this quickly if he hope to escape.

Still on his feet and holding his phaser rifle, he swung the weapon around and fired indiscriminately in what he believed was the Vulcan's direction. The beam went wide as Ra'chel ducked to her right even as Malshu brought the weapon around to shoot at McKenzie, but the security chief was not where she had been mere heartbeats before.

She appeared right in front of him, stepping so close that her left arm was able to sweep the barrel of his weapon up and away from her just as her other hand, the one holder her hand phaser, struck him in the face.

He was totally unprepared for the suddenness or the ferocity of the attack. The butt of the weapon collided with his nose and Malshu's vision exploded from the force of the impact. His left hand lashed out, a protective strike that hit nothing as another phaser burst punched him in the chest.

Then he was hit again as Ra'chel fired a second time, orange energy swarmed over everything for an instant before fading to black.


End file.
